Los Vecinos
Greetings and saltutations from Quetzaltenango (aka Shayla). I just finished my first week of school and things are going well. It is really fun being in a foreign town and not being a tourist (not to mention being fed three meals a day). The classes are good and intense (5 hours a day) and my family is very nice (although me not being able to understand anything they say seems to be getting in the way of our bonding).
I felt a little funny just living in their house at first, but am starting to feel more comfortable. I am certainly not their first tourist (I´m not even the first from Portland) and about 20 people in various levels of relation come in and out of the house each day. I don´t think my presence even phases them. If anything, I wonder if I measure up. Was the student from Australia funnier? The Isreali more interesting?
Although I am failing in one of goals at the moment by being on the internet, I have been very good about avoiding all conversations in English. My program offers all these actividades to do with the other students and I think I am getting a reputation as the Gringo grouch by declining all of them. I haven´t felt moved at all to do the traveler talk, which I usually get into. Instead, I just sit around my family as they talk and watch TV and attempt to learn Spanish through Chaos Theory. I´m sure one of these days it is all going to click... During a futbol game I did learn the word for corner kick (esquina something or other) and yellow card (tarjeta amarilla). ¡Yahoo for TV!
One interesting thing about my familia is that the father is part of a vigilante group called "Los Vecinos¨(The neighbors) who stand on corners at night wearing masks and brandishing clubs. Kind of like the Guatemalan version of neighborhood watch. The police are totally in support of them, acknowledging there´s not enough police and give them credit for slowing down crime. What I´ve found particularly surprising is how proud the father is of being in it. He´s a fairly quiet man, but talks about it all the time and is always showing people the newspaper article about them. I guess it´s not too odd, I´d probably be excitedly talking to people too before heading out into the night with a club. But I guess I just expected vigilantes to be more secretive.
I hope all is well in the US. I´ve felt some subtle break throughs in Spanish, but then I talk to my family who slurs whole paragraphs into a palabra largo and I wonder if 2 weeks is even close to enough for me. Either way, Adios Amigos!!!! (and yes, this is instead of a postcard- lo siento)
I felt a little funny just living in their house at first, but am starting to feel more comfortable. I am certainly not their first tourist (I´m not even the first from Portland) and about 20 people in various levels of relation come in and out of the house each day. I don´t think my presence even phases them. If anything, I wonder if I measure up. Was the student from Australia funnier? The Isreali more interesting?
Although I am failing in one of goals at the moment by being on the internet, I have been very good about avoiding all conversations in English. My program offers all these actividades to do with the other students and I think I am getting a reputation as the Gringo grouch by declining all of them. I haven´t felt moved at all to do the traveler talk, which I usually get into. Instead, I just sit around my family as they talk and watch TV and attempt to learn Spanish through Chaos Theory. I´m sure one of these days it is all going to click... During a futbol game I did learn the word for corner kick (esquina something or other) and yellow card (tarjeta amarilla). ¡Yahoo for TV!
One interesting thing about my familia is that the father is part of a vigilante group called "Los Vecinos¨(The neighbors) who stand on corners at night wearing masks and brandishing clubs. Kind of like the Guatemalan version of neighborhood watch. The police are totally in support of them, acknowledging there´s not enough police and give them credit for slowing down crime. What I´ve found particularly surprising is how proud the father is of being in it. He´s a fairly quiet man, but talks about it all the time and is always showing people the newspaper article about them. I guess it´s not too odd, I´d probably be excitedly talking to people too before heading out into the night with a club. But I guess I just expected vigilantes to be more secretive.
I hope all is well in the US. I´ve felt some subtle break throughs in Spanish, but then I talk to my family who slurs whole paragraphs into a palabra largo and I wonder if 2 weeks is even close to enough for me. Either way, Adios Amigos!!!! (and yes, this is instead of a postcard- lo siento)
posted by chuckdaddy2000 at 1:47 pm
1 Comments:
Senor Papa Chuck Rapido, yo quiero entendar sus adventuras con las chicas de Guatemala. Diga nos! Senora Rapido les divertirse con los hombre muy sexos de Portland. No pare sigue, sigue!
Post a Comment
<< Home